When It Comes to This Sex Act, Women Often Get Shortchanged

A common critique of hookup culture is that it favors men's pleasure over women's, and a recent study confirmed that women on college campuses, the biggest hubs of hookups, might be getting shortchanged.

Surveying 899 Canadian college students, the researchers sought to figure out how common oral sex was in particular and how men and women felt about it. Two-thirds of the students polled reported that it was part of their last hookup—but there was an imbalance between who was giving and who was receiving. Nearly 60 percent of women but only 52 percent of men reported giving oral sex, and 63 percent of men but only 44 percent of women reported receiving it. In addition, slightly more men than women—73 percent versus 69 percent—said they got a lot of pleasure from receiving oral sex.

Does this mean men don't want to go down on women? Actually, more men than women—52 percent versus 28 percent—said that giving oral sex was "very pleasurable," which might be comforting to women who are afraid to ask their partners to venture down south.

The findings "highlight the utility of discussing gendered norms for sexual behavior with young people, and including pleasure-enhancing information in sexual health education programs," the authors write.

It has long been established that an "orgasm gap" exists between men and women. Maybe changing our expectations about who should give and receive pleasure is one crucial step toward combating it.